Man Utd bank £12m as Chelsea sign Mikel

LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) - English champions Chelsea have signed teenager John Obi Mikel after agreeing to pay £12 million ($22.4 million) to Manchester United who were also chasing the Nigerian midfielder.

The wealthy London club completed the deal on Saturday to
end an 18-month battle over the talented player.

Chelsea said they would also pay Mikel's former club Lyn
Oslo £4 million. Half of the payments to United and Lyn
will be paid in a year's time.

Mikel's future has been uncertain since he said he wanted to
play for Chelsea, with whom he trained in 2004, despite signing
for United in April last year.

The Nigerian international, who had been due to join United
in January from Lyn, said he had been put under pressure to sign
for Alex Ferguson's side. For several weeks last year at the
height of the dispute, Mikel went missing from Lyn.

United asked FIFA to invervene more than a year ago but
soccer's world governing body said it would await results of
legal proceedings in Norway.

Chelsea said the financial settlement put an end to the
affair. The payments, they said, had been made solely to allow
Mikel to resume his career and United would support them in any
work permit application that was necessary.

Mikel joins a powerful Chelsea squad, strengthened in
midfield by the signing of Germany captain Michael Ballack last
month.

With England stawart Frank Lampard, France's experienced
Claude Makelele and the powerful Michael Essien already in
Chelsea's first-choice midfield, the 19-year-old will have to
work hard to get a start.

Chelsea, bankrolled by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich,
have also signed Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko from AC Milan
and 20-year-old Feyenoord forward Salomon Kalou in the last
week.